Be Fading Fast, Carved & Mountain Goat

September 6, 2010

CHRIS

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Be Fading Fast - Dark Age

Be Fading Fast hails from the Czech Republic and offers up a death metal sound that is pretty good, but seems to lack a certain amount of power or…well, death to be honest. The band calls itself black/death, though I hear very little in the way of black metal. It’s not a bad demo, but I wouldn’t be reaching for this for my death fix.

The music sounds quite technical in spots with careful attention being paid to riff progression and time changes, yet there is something a bit flat throughout. The total feeling of hard charging death metal is simply not here, though the music is quite enjoyable in spots. That said, there’s nothing that really stands out as a ‘killer’ track or something that sticks in your brain long after the music has finished. “Naked Sin” is okay with its somewhat decent guitar riff but it’s nothing to get excited over.

For the generic variety of death metal this would be just fine, but from the school of said genre it’s not really engaging enough to warrant the tag of the likes of Suffocation, Incantation or Cardiac Arrest.      

Mountain Goat - Mountain Goat

Release Date: February 23, 2010
Hydro-Phonic Records

TRACK LISTING:
1.  Tuskin  2.  Slumber  3.  Outlaw  4.  Satan’s Breath  5.  Drone
6.  Charger           -    Total playing time: 30:30

Michigan sludge metal is alive and well in Mountain Goat, a dense, swampy trek through fuzz-powered down-tempo music that nearly stops your pulse it’s so slow and dismal. The first three songs flow into each other at such an even pace that you don’t even realize you’re hearing “Outlaw” when you think it’s still “Tuskin”. The songs here are quite likeable and feel like you’re phasing in and out of a haze, especially evident in “Satan’s Breath”.

For this brand of dirty, slow-moving metal you can really dig the Seventies feel of the tracks; through it all the music retains its modern day ‘downer’ feel with some pretty volatile, gasping vocals and a very powerful bass that sets the tone for the fine pounding in your ears. Muddy and downright unattractive, Mountain Goat spills feedback and reverb like a fat kid his cake, seemingly all over the floor and staining the walls with such reckless abandon. This recording is simply a lesson in heavy ‘balls’ rock. The vocals seem a bit low in the mix, but there’s enough there to catch the essence of the effort.

It’s pretty good sludge metal with all the fixings from the murkiness of Grand Rapids.

Carved - Carved

Release Date:  2009
Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING:
1.  Enter the Silence  2.  The Thin Far Line  3.  Black Lily of Chaos      -    Total playing time: 12:49

Carved emerges from Italy with its death metal feel that treads a bit too closely on that metalcore line without completely falling over to the dark side. However, there’s too much clean vocalization and those oh-so clichéd crooning wails that incestuously mesh with the harsh in “Enter the Silence” to ignore the obvious similarities. Thankfully that was the only head-shaker for me. 

The down-tuned death metal groove is there, as is the throaty vocal that is both concise and quite engaging. If left to this exact science this demo would be a pretty solid winner, especially with “The Thin Far Line”, a riff-charging technical effort worthy of repeated listens. The band has a sharp cut on the fringe of death metal with some pretty solid, if familiar riffs. Even the keyboards weren’t too much of a mood killer, supplying the right amount of background and not trying to fill a guitar space like most bands do. In fact, the keys in “Black Lily of Chaos” are quite enjoyable.   

I’d be interested to hear more in the future and see if the band sticks with the two-of-three formula here that is otherwise impressive in itself.

For a copy of Carved contact the band via their myspace page (click on link above).

TO THE TOP

Release Date:  2009
Creates Productions

TRACK LISTING:
1.  Holy War  2.  Behind the Window  3.  Naked Sin  4.  Calling the Demons       -    Total playing time: 15:25

DOWNLOAD Dark Age from the band's website (click on link above).

DOWNLOAD Mountain Goat FREE from the band's official page: Mountain Goat

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